Palm Beach: A Greater Grandeur
- ISBN-10
- 1523709499
- ISBN-13
- 9781523709496
- Series
- Palm Beach
- Pages
- 170
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-02-15
- Publisher
- Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
- Author
- Augustus Mayhew
Description
Cultural columnist and architectural historian Augustus Mayhew's revealing and entertaining essays portray Palm Beach's larger-than-life characters, bigger-than-ever mansions and stranger-than-fiction pursuits. Focused on the fine line between illusion and reality so often blurred at Palm Beach, the book explores the town's standing as a rarefied destination where extravagance and excess are commonplace, upheld by successive generations who have built their own Taj Mahals while partaking of all the splendors Worth Avenue offers. This detailed volume chronicles Palm Beach's unique ever-changing landscape from its origin as a remote tropical refuge to its transformation into an international resort playground that recreated itself as an exclusive residential enclave. New insights into Paris Singer and the building of the Everglades Club are gained from previously undiscovered research materials and archival sources in the United States and England. Our awareness and appreciation of Otto Kahn's role in the founding of Palm Beach's exclusive clubs are enriched by his diaries, account ledgers and correspondence found among the Otto H. Kahn Papers at Princeton University's Firestone Library. On a lighter note, Judge James R. Knott's wedding diary documents the numerous at-home ceremonies he performed, taking the reader inside the world of private Palm Beach where guests were asked to hum "Here Comes the Bride." Considering Palm Beach's fondness for distractions, the book also delves into the resort's passion for aviation, dancing, portraits, movie-making, marriage and divorce. Comprised of essays originally published at the New York Social Diary, Palm Beach Daily News and Palm Beach Life magazine, this new collection is illustrated with numerous historical photographs.
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Other editions
-
- 2022-02-15
- 208 pages
- Ebook
- Rowman & Littlefield